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Stage AE will rock December with Girl Talk, Wiz Khalifa, and George Clinton lineup

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Pittsburgh's newest entertainment venue, Stage AE, is scheduled to open around Thanksgiving weekend, and what's more, three great concerts have been scheduled for December. Who, you beseech? Only the likes of Pittsburgh raised, now nationally renowned artists Girl Talk and Wiz Khalifa, and funk gods George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic.

Anticipation has been building for the American Eagle sponsored, $12 million venue since ground was broken last March. Owned by The Pittsburgh Steelers and Continental Real Estate Companies, the venue was designed to fill an important missing market for Pittsburgh entertainment, that space between the stadium-filling megastars of yesterday and smaller acts that might only manage to fill a bar.

Indoor seating at Stage AE can hold 2,400, and a seasonal outdoor amphitheater holds an additional 5,500. The indoor area boasts 22,000-square-feet of space, with an additional 30,000-square-feet of outdoor space in the warmer months. With this setup, Stage AE should be able to accommodate a slew of acts that might not have found an appropriate Pittsburgh venue in the past.

"January is generally a slow month for touring, but we'll be really starting to amp up in March. The outdoor amphitheater will open in mid-May and stay open through September. You'll be seeing a lot more shows that usually only go through cities like Columbus and Washington D.C. coming through Pittsburgh in the future," says Pat Lucas, director of marketing for PromoWest Productions, which is in charge of Stage AE's operation.

Chartiers Valley High School alum Girl Talk, a.k.a. Greg Gillis, will mashup bits of Jay-Z, Roy Orbison, and hundreds of other clashing samples pulled from the last century of pop music for a double header on December 3 and 4. Speaking of samples, perhaps the most heavily sampled artist of all time, George Clinton and his cult-like band of musical freaks, will bring fans aboard the mothership on December 10. Taylor Allderdice High School alum, and genre-hopping rapper Wiz Khalifa closes the month on December 16.

All tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster this Saturday at 10 a.m. Tickets for Khalifa are $23, $28 for Clinton, $22 for one night of Girl Talk, or $40 for both nights.